Aether, the Upper Heaven God of Greek Mythology

     Aether is, in Greek Mythology, the God (or goddess, since she is often represented as a woman) of the Upper Heaven. He is one of the ancient gods and has several sons and daughters

Aether in Greek Mythology:

     Aether, in Greek Mythology, is the personification of the concept of "upper sky", the "sky without limits", different from Uranus. It is the high, pure and brilliant air, breathed by the Olympic gods, in contrast to the dark air, which mortals breathed, being a god unknown to matter, consequently the air molecules that form air and its derivatives.

     He is considered by Hesiod to be the son of Erebus and Nix, with sister Hemera. The Roman poet and mythographer Higino says that Aether was the son of Chaos and Caligo (Darkness). According to Jan Bremmer:

"Higino ... began his Fabulae with a strange mixture of Greek and Roman cosmogonies and ancient genealogies. It begins as follows: Ex Caligine Chaos. Ex Chao et Caligine Nox Dies Erebus Aether. His genealogy seems to be a derivation of Hesiod , but it begins with the non-hesiodic and non-Roman Caligo, 'Darkness'. Darkness probably occurred in an cosmogonic poem by Algman, but it seems fair to say that it was not prominent in Greek cosmogonies".

Aether had numerous children:

     Higino's list attributes him as children of his union with Dies (Hemera), Earth (Gaia), Coelum (Uranus) and Mare (Tálassa), and then with Terra, from Dolor (pain), Dolus, (deceit), Wrath (fury), Luctus (mourning), Mendacium (lies), Jusiurandum (oath), Ultio (punishment), Intemperantia (intemperance), Altercatio (altercation), Oblivio (forgetfulness), Socordia (laziness), Timor (fear), Superbia (superb), Incestum (incest), and Pugna (strife). Cicero attributes paternity to Uranus. He was also considered by Aristophanes to be the father of the Nepheles, cloud nymphs.

     Just as Erebus, who personifies the upper darkness, has Nyx as his surface superficial darkness (and, in some versions, he appears as the son of that one), it can be interpreted that Ether has his Uranus correspondent (who now appears as a son) , prays as a father).

Check: Erebus in Greek Mythology

     The name of the classic element Aether, which according to Aristotle is the component of the region above the sky, is associated with it, and the fifth orphic hymn, dedicated to Ether, describes the substance as "the reigning and always indestructible power of Zeus", "the best element" and "the vital spark of all creatures". Although attributed to the mythological poet Orpheus who lived before the time of Homer, the probable composition of the hymns in the 6th to 4th centuries BC. C. made them contemporaneous to natural philosophers, like Empedocles, who theorized the material forces of nature identical to the gods and superior to the anthropomorphic deities of the Homeric religion.

     Their children are: Tálassa, Androctasias, Anfilogias, Algea, Even, Dysnomia, Phonos, Hisminas, Horcos, Lete, Limos, Macas, Neikea, Orco, Ponos and Pseudologos

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